Tag Archives: Hockey

Miracle

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It’s time for a hockey movie about one of the most legendary games of all time within the sport. I don’t really follow Hockey all that much at all and hadn’t heard of this big battle before so that makes watching the movie even more fun. It’s really all new content for me and I feel like I know a whole lot about what happened from this film. It really covers a lot of ground and I appreciate that.

The movie starts with the coach being picked for the USA team that will participate in the Olympics. In a way he has been waiting for this opportunity his whole life and so he is determined to do well. The Olympics only happen every 4 years after all and there is no guarantee that you will get a second chance. So he figures that he will do things his way. This means selecting all of the players personally without going through a hiring committee and additionally he will be putting them through the wringer. He intends to push each player to their breaking point and take their skills to new heights. The risk of this though is you get an increased chance of injury. Balancing the load will ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat.

One of the main themes in the film is about playing for the country as opposed to looking out for yourself. Initially just about all of the players were thinking about this as a normal game and trying to do their best but gradually they realize just what is at stake here. It’s a big honor to win the Olympic for your country and losing is a really big deal. The coach ends up having to scare them a few times to get their heads on straight but eventually the message gets through. Having that national identity is important in order to get your skills to the next level.

Meanwhile the media is doing their best to stir things up as well so you have people trying to make this into a pseudo war of sorts. Like defeating Russia in Hockey will turn into a physical victory against them and the coach is trying his best to keep that from happening. So he blocks the interviews which annoys the press but there’s not much they can do about it. I feel like nowadays you’d probably gets a lot of fines for that since you’re pretty much forced to talk to the press all the time but I’m glad he was able to stop that. At the end of the day, in most cases the questions you are asked aren’t actually that helpful and they’re just looking for some buzzwords. So it’s a lose-lose situation if you play along.

The film’s probably at its weakest when there is no hockey happening though. We get some drama between the coach and his wife for a while there which was more on the annoying side. They end up patching things back together but it felt like that plot was more on the unnecessary side. Of course this is based on true events so if that actually happened then I suppose you have to include it. Otherwise, it just felt like the coach could have handled things better at the jump and then there wouldn’t have been any problems.

The actual hockey scenes are handled really well. You feel the intensity of every play as the players get into the action. Nobody is backing down and the sport has always been one of the more physical ones in real life. So add the cinematic angles to it and this flows together really well. The final game is also really long which is nice. If I had any complaints here, it’s that we didn’t get to see the final round. I know the Miracle moment was really about the semi finals round but still give me a little glimpse of the round after that.

The film’s use of real recordings and clips during the adventure was also a good way to get the realism across. There was certainly a lot going on at the time and the film makes sure that you are aware of this even while the coach has to actively try and ignore all of this so that he can focus on the team. Crazy things may be happening but what he needs to do is deliver a win and the rest will come into place eventually.

Overall, Miracle is a pretty solid film. It’s long enough where it really gets to go into detail on the various games and on each individual player as they prepare for this event. Sports are certainly not easy and you can multiply that amount of difficulty many times over for an event as big as the Olympics. When you are competing in world championships like this, there are certainly no easy matches. If you enjoy Hockey or just like seeing a good movie about teamwork then this is a solid title to check out.

NHL 19 Review

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It’s been quite a while since I played one of the hockey games. Well, no better time than the present right? I got to play this one a bit more than the others as I went deep into the game for the trophies. One of them was for completing all tutorials so as a result I finally developed some fundamental skills here. I wouldn’t call myself a Hockey pro or anything yet…but I wouldn’t bet against myself either at this point. It’s a decently solid game that should please Hockey fans.

There are a lot of modes here, so many in fact that you can pick a few to pin to the quick access menu at the top in case you don’t want to have to navigate through all of them so often. It’s a solid quality of life feature although I think some modes could have really been bundled together. I mainly stuck to the quick matches but also played some levels in Be A Pro and the World Career mode. They all essentially lead to the same gameplay although the main difference is that in Be A Pro you can only play as one character (Yourself) in the matches while in the other modes you can switch between players at all. It’s a key difference.

Personally I like controlling all of the players. When I’m only one person it just feels like I’m not really controlling the flow of the game as much as I’d like. Also, there’s more dead time as a result since you have to wait to get the puck back while in the other mode you are always with it. I’ll give the game props for having a choice though. More choices is always a good thing since everyone will want to be able to play the game in their own way. I think that makes a lot of sense and is just practical. Shouldn’t be hard to implement either so it’s worth going the extra mile here.

The graphics are really solid as expected. You definitely don’t have to worry about anything not being very clear here or anything like that. Everything is fairly HD and if EA knows how to do one thing exceptionally well, it’s how to make a game look visually appealing. You also have to give them credit for the smooth gameplay. They may not change it almost at all from year to year but it works pretty well and they are the ones who set that up initially. The soundtrack isn’t very good but it’s rare to have a sport game with a very memorable one.

Going more into the gameplay, the main idea here is you want to shoot the puck into the opponent’s goal. This scores you a point and whoever has the most points at the end of the game claims victory. You want to prevent your opponent from doing the same to your goal. You move throughout the hockey field and on offense you can pass to other players or take a shot. On defense you can openly body slam opponents but be careful about tripping them. The latter counts as a penalty but if you can shoot your stick out with good timing you can prevent a shot from soaring into the goal.

Defense is really difficult which is no surprise since that’s often the toughest part of any sport game. Even in Football I have a hard time with that. I will say that the body slaming is really satisfying though. I don’t understand all of the rules in NHL so occasionally I’ll draw a flag for being on the wrong side but on the whole you don’t need to know a lot of technicals. Being able to maneuver around the arena is really the most important skill to have so if you can do that then you’ll be good.

Now on offense, the main thing I would recommend you learn how to do is pass effectively. It’s almost impossible to get a straight shot past the goalie so what I found is the most efficient way to score is to have one ally near you. Have both characters sprint at the goalie and then immediately pass to the other player and shoot. If you do this in one quick motion the goalie is usually not fast enough to stop this attack and then it’s off to the races. I found this to be the most reliable way to score at least and I even blew out one of my opponents using this trick.

A fun thing about hockey is that even the computer has a very hard time scoring. So if you can score just 2 goals in a game you should win over 90% of your matches. I’m sure if you bump the difficulty level up then this will change but for the most part it really is an excellent way to make sure you come out on top. I don’t have any other gameplay advice other than that. In terms of movement it’s really all just about making sure that you’re at the right place at the right time. Don’t let the computers surround you or put too much pressure on. Keep them at a distance and you’ll be just fine. Although the field is limited so just do your best.

Overall, NHL 19 may be the best of the NHL games I’ve played or at least it’s definitely one of the better ones. It helps a lot that the tutorial mode was very comprehensive so I felt like I actually could play the game instead of button mashing. Parts of the game feel a little overly complex but I suppose watching high level NHL battles would likely be really fun as a result. If you like hockey then you’ll enjoy this game and if not then you won’t. At least that makes it extremely easy when thinking about recommending this one or not. There aren’t a whole lot of extra thoughts you’ll need to put into that aspect. I’ll probably get NHL 20 in a year or two once I can find it for $5 like this one. I’m not a big Hockey guy so I only play the games until I get a C rank in terms of trophies but it’s worth it to at least get that far for me and for that price you can’t go wrong.

Overall 6/10

NHL 2K7 Review

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It’s been quite a while but now I am finally diving back into the world of Hockey. 2K7 is be one of the older hockey games, at least from the ones I’ve played. It has a very nostalgic feel to it and that really helps the game excel. This is a contender for my favorite hockey game and that’s not just because I finally won for a change. I think taking such a long break helped my hockey fundamentals.

Right away I dove into a match and got ready to see what the other team would do. The controls are very simple here which is nice as I don’t need to worry about a bunch of different options. You pass, shoot, and steal the puck. I’m sure there are more controls but those are the ones I really used to claim victory. I kept up a very aggressive offensive and it ended up paying off big time. Defense still isn’t an issue just because it is already so hard for anyone to get a goal in. You still do want to keep the pressure up so they don’t start getting fancy but as long as you do that you should be okay. Aside from that one hockey game there are basically never any shootouts.

As for offense I would play the game almost like Basketball and have one player take over the game. I’d drive up to the net and then quickly pass to someone near by and instantly take the shot. It wouldn’t always work but I fell like this gives you the best shot. I think one of my shots was without a pass but I managed to get the goalie in a bad spot which was very fortunate. I won the game 3-1 which felt pretty impressive. I gotta admit though, I did get nervous during the second quarter because initially I was winning 2-0 and then they suddenly scored. I’ve had quite a few matches were the computer suddenly got on a roll and started scoring so I definitely couldn’t let that happen. Fortunately there were no miracle comebacks this time. I got to close out the victory and saw the fun little celebration at the end. As always the presentation in the game is quite good. You get to see all of the characters celebrating after each score and then a bunch of them at the end. It really does help make the whole experience tie together a lot better.

I got into one fight during the match but my opponent was dominating me. To prevent myself from actually taking a loss I just took off and ran at that point. That’s a pretty fun mechanic that I’m surprised isn’t really around in the newer games. Being able to beat a hasty retreat was pretty fun even if I would have preferred securing the win. The guy’s punches were just so fast and unrelenting though. I was basically unable to do anything at that point which was crazy.

The graphics are pretty good and the colors stand out. It’s got that retro feeling that I mentioned a while back which is nice. I didn’t notice any music this time but in a sport game that isn’t too important since you’re focused on the sounds and the commentators. I can’t deny that having some solid tunes in true background would be a good idea though. They certainly don’t hurt.

As far as the replay value goes there is definitely a lot to do here. You can play some bonus modes and you can start a season. There are a ton of teams so trying them all will probably take some time as well. The game is pretty old so you won’t have the option of doing online but there are a ton of offline things to do at least. The game is only a dollar or two to buy as well so there is that.

Overall, 2K7 is a very good game. It brings you the full hockey experience and does it all very well. There is nothing lacking here and so long as you enjoy hockey you are basically guaranteed to have a good time. I don’t think I have any more hockey games or one at the most so soon it’s gonna be time to look at a different sport. Hockey had a good run and now when I buy my next hockey game someday I’ll be prepared for it.

Overall 7/10

NHL 2K10 Review

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It’s going to be a little emotional finally being done with the hockey games. After this one there is only one title left that I own. This is the first 2K NHL game I’ve played and it does play quite differently from the main title so I had to get used to the controls from scratch. Surprisingly the controls actually seem a lot more straightforward here than in NHL, at least to me. Also, 2K is usually more of a simulation title while the main games are the arcade version but this one switches things up quite a bit.

One big change is that the games were fairly high scoring. In the first round I lost 5-3, but it’s been ages since I’ve seen so many points on the board when I’ve played. Honestly this probably is the highest scoring NHL game I’ve been in at all. Then in the next round I lost 7-5. No matter how much I scored the other team was always right behind me. Still, I have to admit that the scoring did make the game a whole lot more fun. I felt like I was actually causing serious damage and that’s considering that I didn’t really get a chance to learn most of the movement options. I’d just keep dashing around until I punched the ball in. That was the secret to my success.

On defense they did make picking a fight a little more obvious. You’ll see an indicator on the top of the screen asking if you want to initiate a fight. Now I’m not sure how you trigger this or if it’s random. If it’s the latter then NHL does have the edge since you actually have a button to start fights. I lost the actual brawl here though, I’ll have to work on my punching skills.

My defense is also a little sloppy compared to NHL. I think that’s because I was trying to swipe the puck more than just slamming the opponent. The latter is usually a lot more effective for making a play and you rarely get penalized for it anyway. I was good with penalties here though, my guys only got a penalty once or twice as the game went on. Still, I can’t be letting this many goals through so I have to button things up for next time.

The graphics are very bright. They aren’t quite as detailed as the main game but they certainly do the job. You’re able to really just jump into the action and go from there. The presentation isn’t quite as fancy so this one really just throws you into the game. Since I’d say that the gameplay is better than the main games it is a pretty good tradeoff if you ask me. I didn’t really notice a soundtrack. If there was music then it was pretty faint as you played. I feel like the main NHL themes pop out at you a little more, but music is never really a big part of the sport experience.

In terms of replay value you can make this game last a very long while. There’s no shortage of things to do and as long as you like the gameplay you can enjoy an unlimited amount of unique matches. There is no longer online as far as I know and while there may be trophies here, I didn’t get any during the game so they definitely sound like they’re gonna be pretty tough. It’s a good incentive to really learn the controls in and out though. If you intend to play the game seriously, then it’s probably worth going into the practice mode at least briefly. I just skipped it entirely since I probably wouldn’t be playing it much after the initial games. Realistically with how many games I’ve got to get back to I probably won’t ever play this specific NHL again even if I will probably play the newer ones.

Overall, NHL 2K10 is a great start to this spinoff series. I’m assuming that there is probably a 2K for all of the years in which case I am definitely quite behind. That being said, the games are probably pretty cheap by now so grabbing them shouldn’t be too difficult. Next time I’ll be taking a look at 2K7 so we’ll see how that one goes. If you don’t own a hockey game yet, this is a reasonable one to start with.

Overall 6/10

NHL 13 Review

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It’s time to venture back into the world of hockey! After I managed to secure a win last time I’ll admit that I walked into this one with a lot of confidence. It wasn’t a question of if I would win this time, but rather by how much would I claim victory. Turns out that the CPUs didn’t like this and they fought extra hard. Unfortunately I was not able to claim victory over them this time, but I put up a good fight. They just had an extra tight defense this time and their offense wasn’t bad either.

I can’t say that there was much of a difference between 13 and 12. I jumped right into the match and got my best hockey swings in. As a quick recap of the rules the goal of Hockey is to hit a puck inside the enemy net. They have a player standing watch over it at all times and they will do whatever they can to stop the puck. Their team was quite successful at this. Usually my plan is to either pass the ball to a nearby teammate who will punch it in or I’ll do some quick jukes as I approach and try to aim it at the opposite corner. I did manage to score a goal, but unfortunately they got 2 so I was not able to stop them. I had more success with direct shooting than passing this time, but it seems to vary from match to match.

I quickly tried a rematch which I came close to tying, but they scored a goal near the end so I was stuck. After the quick matches I figured I should also try one of the other modes because I don’t do that very often. I went into the shootout mode and managed to win that one. For some reason that mode is always a little easier than the actual game. I suppose because it’s 1 vs 1 there are less distractions so I can just walk up and do my best. There weren’t a lot of other modes that I could see. The others seemed to be variations of the main one so you could jump in and start a franchise or be a GM for example. You could probably spend a ton of time there.

NHL is the kind of game that never really has to end. The amount of replay value it has is equal to how much you enjoy the game. You can sink dozens/hundreds of hours into it if you wish but if you’re that hardcore of a player then you’ll probably be playing NHL 18 rather than 13. Considering that the game is only around 2 bucks it is really a steal to grab this one. This is the final mainline NHL game I’ve got, but I do have 2 spinoffs coming soon so my hockey marathon isn’t quite over yet. I still have more chances to try and secure a win.

Meanwhile the graphics are definitely as sharp as ever. The game looks very nice and you always have a good feel for what is happening on screen at all times. There isn’t much of a soundtrack that you will notice, but once you’re in the game it’s not like you’ll be worrying about that for long anyway. You really get absorbed into the match and the presentation is definitely on point. NHL always delivers there.

In terms of difficulty I imagine that hockey will be one of the more challenging games. All these reviews are on the Pro difficulty level although I’ve dabbled with others in the past. The rookie level is pretty easy to win on and anything above Pro is almost impossible to score with so you gotta hope for a 0-0 deadlock. Pro seems just right to me even if I very rarely get any wins on it. It just seems balanced and while the defense is almost unbreakable, it never feels unfair. I think that’s a subtle distinction that you always want to keep. In some games it feels like the A.I. is totally cheating by breaking the mechanics or teleporting, but I haven’t noticed that here. Of course it could just be that the computers are being extra slick.

Overall, NHL 13 is a fun hockey game. It really keeps up with the others and feels more natural than some of the older ones. While you don’t notice the difference much on a game to game basis, I can definitely say that it was more enjoyable than some of the older ones. I think a case could be made for it just feeling like that because I’ve been playing so much hockey though. I won’t deny that this could be true, but either way I’m definitely glad about that. The higher the games go the better right? Stay tuned for my next voyage!

Overall 7/10

NHL 12 Review

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It’s been a while, but it’s finally time to take a look at the next NHL game. I’m thinking that the wait actually ended up being a good thing because I finally managed to win a game. I’d been getting closer and closer as the games went on, but this time I was able to just get into the game and cleaned up shop. I won with a decisive 3-2 score which felt pretty good. It’s really hard to say why I was finally able to score, but I will say that I just kept up a high tempo offense all the way through.

I jumped right into a quick match of course and at first things were looking dicey because my PS3 controller wasn’t playing ball. It kept trying to make my player run downwards but after a few resets I was good to go. Of course by then I was already down 0-1. Perhaps it was the urgency that got me, but I quickly began to take shots at the goal and to my surprise I was getting through. For one of the shots it ended up going right through one of their defenders and to the edge of the net so the goalie couldn’t stop it. It was basically a hall of fame shot if I do say so myself. The other 2 shots were less remarkable but the important thing is that they made it through.

The controls are the same as the others games as you run across the field and try to score goals inside of the opponent’s net. You can shoot or pass the ball and additionally you can slam into other players as well as pick fights. I got into one scuffle during this match and I made sure to knock the other guy out. I didn’t even pick this fight, but once I was in it you can bet that I was aiming for the win. The gameplay all feels pretty smooth even if the computer does seem too close at times. You never really get a breather to stop and relax or you will see that the puck has been stolen.

The A.I. never lets up and I suppose that’s a good thing. It does force you to stay sharp and to keep a close eye on the rest of the field. Meanwhile the graphics are definitely as sharp as always The field looks pretty clear as well as the character models. I definitely had no qualms on this area. The soundtrack may as well be nonexistent since you don’t really hear it during the game. I’m sure it was okay of course, but not exactly a winner.

In terms of replay value you can definitely find a lot to do here. There are tons of different modes to play and its a sport game so you can just have a lot of fun facing off against different opponents. That’s really the true value of a sport game after all even if NHL wouldn’t exactly be my first choice. The game is also new enough where you can try to earn some trophies, but they are pretty tough. I didn’t even earn a single one during my match so I imagine this should take you a long time. If there are any online trophies then the platinum is impossible right from the start which is always unfortunate. Ah well, can’t get all of the platinums I suppose.

I guess for my gameplay hint of the day I would recommend going in close and shifting your stick from arm to arm with the X button. Then fire into the goal when ready instead of passing it to a teammate on the other side to shoot. The move doesn’t seem to work as well as it used to. The computers will either steal the ball right away or it simply won’t go in. The goals I got were simply from rushing towards the net and making the shot. You’ll still have to make dozens of shots before you get it right, but eventually you’ll squeeze it in there. It feels like luck and RNG, but I’m sure there is some kind of technique to it.

Overall, NHL 12 is pretty solid. I can’t really say that there is anything to differentiate it from the last installment though. I guess it’s possible that they tweaked how good the goalies are though. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve never scored 3 goals like this and I wouldn’t say that my skills just suddenly jumped a beat so it’s an interesting theory. If the game did make it easier to score that is certainly fine by me because I do like scoring. The whole game just feels faster and it’s a lot more satisfying. Of course I do understand why people who prefer the defensive side may not like this if it is the case. Well, I’ve got NHL 13 coming up at some point soon so it’ll be good to see where that one stacks up. Slowly but surely we are wrapping up the sport games. Long story short, if you like NHL then this is a good pick up for 1-2 dollars.

Overall 6/10